I love all my dogs dearly and Otis especially. Tonight, it has been a non stop barrage of whining, howling and nothing I did seemed to do would make it stop. Checked his ears because he will get ear infections now and then because of his being a bulldog. They were fine. Gave him ear drops anyway as a precaution and because, heck, maybe the one ear IS bothering him. No luck. He was in bed with for maybe 10 minutes and then determined himself to get down. Went to pick his fat ass up and lower him down and for the first time EVER, he snapped at me. Whoa! This never happens. Otis is the most laid back, docile dog on the frickin planet! Got him down and off he trotted. I went on to bed, lights out, my other two dogs sauntered in and were content to lay on their dog beds beside mine. For the next 2 and 1/2 hours all I heard was Otis whining loudly from the other end of the house.
I lay in bed praying, "Dear God fix whatever is wrong so Otis will quiet down and sleep."At the end of 2 and 1/2 hours he finally gets quiet. I should be happy right? Well.....My brain went into overdrive thinking, Oh God he's dead! SO I get up, wander into the kitchen and there he lies on the bean bag, sawing logs. Now before you all tear me a new one and preach about why haven't I taken him to the vet, I have a lifelong friend who IS a vet. David and his wife have known me since I was a little kid and he has very well known Vet practice here in town. I've reached out to him and was told a few things to look at:
1. Look for any signs of trauma.. well duh
2. Check Otis' belly to see if it is supple and soft or distended. Okay, check.
3. Watch him during the day for unusual movements, limp or other signs he may have an injury. Check
4. Feel his nose. Ya, think?
5. Take his temperature. Check.
6. Make sure he has water etc. They have a big self dispensing water thingy, eat on a routine, have the doggie door to come and go potty as they please. So again, check
7. Check his paw for thorns or bad irritation. That's a good one. Check
8. Keep track of when he whines and if you notice any triggers. Hmm, okay, slight check.
For the most part for a free advice giving session, I'll take it.
Well tonight, about the time he quieted down, I had gotten on the magical world wide web looking up symptoms of his behavior. Low and behold there were a TON of sites addressing his issues! Who knew? After wading through page after page for nearly 45 minutes, getting up to check on him, making coffee, I was drawn to one particular topic which is older aged dogs and things they may start doing. Whining at night, pawing at you, pacing, restlessness. BINGO!! Now what is the cause I asked whimsically in my head.
Apparently older dogs can get dementia, and also anxiety. The article pretty eloquently explained both and the criteria by which to see if that could be relevant to your dog.
Some suggestions were of course, see your vet. Others suggested dog therapy, a doggy psychologist and what not. Okay vet I can see doing, a shrink? I don't know about that. Seems a little like hog wash to me, but won't rule it out. Fast forward a half an hour. Coffee is made, cigar lit, I walk over, bend down to love on the ole boy and he just flops on his side as if to say, "HA, hey sucker, rub my belly!" And I do. At this point, what I am surmising is, since I am now back at work during the day for many hours, and he is not very motivated to get his lazy butt outside like his brothers, he is probably more of less ready to be awake by nightfall and wants attention from daddy. Once he gets his fill, even if that means whining like a failing water pump to do so, then he's content to go to sleep. Since I've been up over and hour now, he hasn't budged. I've been in the kitchen purposely banging around, opening and closing the back door, clinking coffee cups, spoons and hasn't roused yet.
I am working with horses some now at the new job and they, like dogs, are like people. They all have needs psychologically, physically and emotionally. As a nudist guy, I have always found my therapy in playing music, writing songs, writing my blog posts among other things. My dog can't do any of those things. People however, can.
We can do things to burn energy, heal our minds and inner self both of which promote therapeutic results.
We can:
And....
And...
And...
And.. If we are needing a little less active therapy,
So, WE have a lot of options. Our pets may not. Since my work schedule is starting to normalize a little bit now, and my dogs are starting to adjust to my being gone more every day, I think it's time to make a concerted effort to spend more time with them, especially Otis in the mornings before I head off to work. Is it a guarantee that his nighttime behavior will improve or disappear, no. But it's definitely worth a shot and more fair to all of them, especially him, if he is having some anxiety at night and just needing more daddy time. So, once I get back to bed here soon and hopefully get some sleep, come morning, it's "Wake up old lazy boy, we are gonna go outside and do stuff." Unlike people, sadly, dogs are very forgiving and have the agape love that knows no end. I love that about them so so much. We as human beings can learn a great deal from their loyalty, forgiveness and unparalleled commitment to being there for us nearly all of the time.
As you go about your day today and in the days to come, try and be a little more DOG-MINDED. Loving on people for no reason, having their back, being submissive more and less argumentative. I betcha it will make you not only a better person, but a happier one!
Go enjoy some nude time this week and refresh your mind and heart. And, if you have pets, take them with you when you can. They won't care if you're bare.
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